Solstice War - Gathering

[willysilver]

The Solstice was upon them. When the sun went down the magic began to swell, the veil between this world and the Other Side thin as vapor. Mortals could sense it, even, though they may not have a name for it. They gathered together, not realizing the animal instinct of safety in numbers.

But all around the city, from the dark parts, fae began to come together as well. Unseelie filled the city- boggarts and Red Caps and things unseen for many a year with bright eyes and sharp teeth. But they were tricksy, dangerous and malicious but no worse than they ever were. The real threat, the ever present danger this year, were the Milesian that crawled out of the sewers and tube tunnels to prowl they city. They were hunting tonight. They had eyes black and soulless, eyes too wide for their white, gaunt faces. Larger than their eyes were their mouth. The smile of needle fangs glinted in the street lights. Long arms ending with spidery, spindly fingers reached and clawed at passers by from the shadows.

There was a war in the city tonight and the nature of the foe, the Milesian, meant no bound mortal needed to be near any battle. Death would come to one or the other if a killing blow came down.

But there was hope. Seelie fae prowled the city as well, fighting for Light and Air. Even the Queen had seen fit to step through with her sword and shield. Such was the threat to the Fae way of life that the Milesian presented.

The longest day of the year dawned but the sunlight did nothing to frighten off the dark forces. The longest day of the year simply meant the things that went bump in the night were attacking in the light.




(Tag in, tag around! Open all week so check back. Have fun with your adventures. If you don't want any Milesian, there are plenty of Unseelie, too. Day or night, whichever works for you.)

Comments

[utterly_mysterious]

It wasn't pleasant, not at all. "I'm not sure, honestly," Angelique confessed, after another slow sip. "He's always honest with me, which I'm glad for, because a lie would feel even worse. I'm not asking for his heart forever and ever... I just don't think I know what's reasonable to expect, when the person you want is four centuries old and will continue to live on for centuries after you're gone."

[akatawitch]

Sunny nodded and considered that, remembering back when she'd first found out about Fin and Willy and how doomed she'd thought they were when they were just a human and a fairy prince.

This was also among many reasons why she'd tried to resist her crush on the Phouka.

"One of the reasons dealing with the inhuman is as... interesting as it is is because after a while we're just babies to them. And like any other small children, to them we're squishy, untried, and ignorant. And like we would do with small children, sometimes that results in nurturing, sometimes in impatience, sometimes in taking advantage, and sometimes in just messing with us." She shrugged. "Individuals vary, of course, saying that they never care, that they're never impressed with what we do, that they're never proud of us, is wrong. True equality, though, is very, very rare."

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique listened, and after just a few words, she knew it was truer than most anything Kersen or Fin had told her. She loved them both dearly, but they were concerned with their own situations primarily. (Very human of them, really.) Sunny had another view, both higher and broader, that Angelique had thought about but never quite put in to words.

"I can't imagine. I'm not asking for that, I don't think, but viewed in that light perhaps I am wishing for too much. You don't share the realities of your life with a child. They aren't equipped to understand it."

[akatawitch]

"Well, like you said, it's not easy for us to get it, either. What does being alive for centuries even mean?" Sunny pulled a face. "Four hundred years, that's... Shakespeare and early colonialism. And that's a time scale we can still understand. Then you get to goddamn Sidhe princes that are eons old. It's more time than you can fit into your head. And even that's young by some measures. There are creatures that have been walking the Earth since there was an Earth to walk." And some that had been even before that, but zooming out further wasn't necessary.

Shaking her head, Sunny tried to come back to the point. "And sometimes there's just that whole 'other' thing, too. Can't be too ethnic for the white people. Can't be too inhuman for the human. Being too much what you are around people who just aren't ready, well... The one thing that I think we've all got in common is we want to connect. We don't want to be alone. And sometimes you learn that the way to do that is to keep certain doors closed. If you know where you're looking, you can find all kinds of strangeness in London, and almost all of them are trying to pass for vanilla mortal as a matter of survival."

Something that she thought Angelique would understand very well, if meeting her siblings as a boy was anything to go by.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique understood perfectly, thinking of her brother and sister. She kept her real life hidden from them, not because it was easier for her, but because it was easier for them while they still relied on their parents.

For the length of a long sigh, Angelique studied her drink. "We fought our way through murderous impossible creatures to get here, and I'm still stuck on whether or not Kersen thinks I'm special. It's more than a little ridiculous, isn't it?"

[akatawitch]

Sunny snorted. "I spent weeks looking at and crying over every facet of my choice to have my first non-solo sexual experience with a fairy I was really into but knew I couldn't get serious with." She had no love or even use for the phrase 'losing her virginity' because it sounded too much like she was damaged goods and she kind of hated that. "You can't stop it just by reasoning it away. Especially if there's no outlet."

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique peeked up, relieved that Sunny continued to not judge her insecurities in such a helpfully supportive way. "Gracious, how many faeries are in London? No, don't answer that, I don't think I want to know."

She toyed with her glass, then agreed, "There really aren't many people I can talk to about these things. Even fewer who will actually listen. Unless there's some sort of London supernatural support group I don't know about."

[akatawitch]

"Not a clue," Sunny admitted with a shrug. "I've met five. And I'm fairly certain our lists have considerable overlap." Neither of them had yet said Fin's name, but it hung in the air between them, she would bet large amounts of money she didn't have. "And unfortunately no support group or therapist that I'm aware of." It was one of those fantasy tropes she really wished hadn't been true.

[utterly_mysterious]

"Well," Angelique eventually said, picking up her drink once more because she couldn't really remain maudlin for long. "You can always talk to me. I'm practically a professional listener, second only to a good bartender when you can't find yourself a therapist. And, as an added bonus, I likely won't know what in the world you're talking about half the time."

[akatawitch]

Sunny laughed and took a sip of her own drink. "So we'll unload on each other, huh? Sounds good to me."

[utterly_mysterious]

Maybe she should have done it earlier, but now was an even better moment. Angelique lifted her glass and tipped it slightly to Sunny, offering a clink to seal the agreement with a smile.